


Right now, your friend desperately wants to see you

by Saasan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Blade of Marmora Trials, Canon Universe, Dark, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Happy Ending, I know that doesn't make sense from these tags but trust me, M/M, Mild Blood, Rape, Rape Simulation, Reader Discretion Recommended, but divergent, graphic description of rape, mention of past Shiro/Adam - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 01:08:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20145052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saasan/pseuds/Saasan
Summary: Keith agreed to the rules set by the Blades in order to complete their trial and earn the right to keep his knife, but there was more to the challenge than a straightforward fight, and Shiro finds himself involved as he bears witness to a nightmare conjured by Keith’s suit that horrifies him to his core.Dead dove, do not eat.  Surprisingly nice ending but PLEASE heed the warnings.





	Right now, your friend desperately wants to see you

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warning: depiction of (fictional) graphic non-con between Shiro and Keith. For detailed trigger warnings, see author’s notes.

“Right now, your friend desperately wants to see you.”

  


~*~*~

  


Water glided down Keith’s back. He soaped up, not quite lingering but not moving quickly either, a wordless tune hummed under his breath. He rinsed and reached for a bottle of shampoo when the door the Castle’s lockerroom whirred open and Shiro strode in. Before Keith could turn or speak a greeting, the larger paladin grabbed him by the back of the neck and crushing his face into the shower wall.

“I saw you,” he hissed. 

“Shiro, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean--” 

“Fuck you,” Shiro interrupted, tightening his grip and slamming Keith back into the tiles. “I saw you, staring at me like I’m a piece of meat. Is that what I am to you? It was disgusting, you violating me with your eyes in front of everyone. Newsflash, Keith--I can wear whatever I want and it’s not an invitation for you to look.”

“Shiro--,” Keith choked, blood pouring from his nose.

“I bet you get hard everytime we spar. I’m trying to train you to survive and you’re getting off on it. Orphan scum. Is this how you repay me? Here,” Shiro said, yanking Keith’s head back as he forced him to his knees. “If you want my cock that bad, you can choke on it.”

Shiro shoved his pants down just enough to expose his cock and he forced it into Keith’s pleading mouth. Blood from Keith’s nose ran down his mouth over Shiro’s steadily growing erection as he rammed deeper and deeper into Keith’s throat. Protesting whines were barely audible over the sound of the shower and Shiro’s grunting. He sneered. 

“Isn’t this what you wanted? Didn’t you salivate every time you looked at me?”

Water streamed down Keith’s face, flooding over his nose even as Shiro forced himself past his airway. Keith started to struggle.

“You wanted this--stay still and fucking _ take it _,” Shiro demanded.

Keith went obediently limp, eyes clouding over with tears that the shower did little to disguise. When Shiro finally finished, Keith bent double with gasping, heaving gulps of air as his slack mouth leaked cum and drool.

“And then you can’t even fucking swallow.” Shiro spat on the floor. “You make me sick.”

The door whirred as Shiro stalked out, leaving Keith on the shower floor to cry, his blood still on the wall.

  


~*~*~

  


“What the hell is happening? What are you doing to him?!” Shiro demanded. The Blade of Marmora was supposed to be testing Keith’s strength and mental ability--this was some kind of grotesque perversion and mental torture.

“We aren’t doing this,” Kolivan said, voice infuriatingly calm. “The suit is designed to manifest the wearer’s greatest hopes and fears.”

“What the fuck do you mean--greatest hopes and fears?! This would _ never _happen.” How could this be something that would ever enter Keith’s mind? 

Kolivan stared at Shiro, eyes impassive. “The mind conjures what it conjures. It is for knowledge. He will reject it or he will learn from it.”

“What the hell is there for him to learn,” Shiro cried. “This would never happen. I would never hurt him like that--not for anything, ever.”

Kolivan’s eyes did not waver. “Perhaps that is what he fears.”

  


~*~*~

  


“We need to talk.” 

Keith glanced up, seeing Shiro standing in his doorway, arms crossed.

“Of course, Shiro. What’s up?” Keith said, concerned.

Shiro’s jaw clenched and he took a step in, locking the door as it shut behind him. He stayed that way for a moment, his back to Keith. “I’ve tried to let it go, Keith, but I can’t.” He turned around. His eyes were dark with anger. “You need to make it right.”

Keith licked his lips nervously. “Of course. Anything. What did I do?”

“Do you seriously not know what you did?!” Shiro shouted.

Keith shrank back, eyes wide.

Shiro chuckled humorously. “I bet you don’t. I bet you forgot that you watched Adam and I. How convenient of you to forget.” Shiro took a step forward. “Too bad I can’t.”

“I-I didn’t mean to,” Keith stammered. “I didn’t think anyone would be in the hanger. It was so late, and I--”

“Did you look away?” Shiro asked, deadly quiet.

“Sh-Shiro,” Keith said, backing up as his friend advanced forward. His knees hit his bed and he sat down awkwardly.

“Did. You. Look. Away?”

“No,” Keith whispered, looking at his clenched and trembling fists.

Shiro sighed. “Take off your clothes.”

Keith’s head snapped up. “What?”

“Did I stutter? Take off your clothes,” Shiro said, beginning to unfasten his belt. “You need to make this right.”

“Shiro, I’m sorry, I--”

Shiro snatched Keith’s wrist. “If you’re sorry then_ take. Off. Your. Clothes _,” he snarled.

A tiny sob escaped Keith’s chest as his shaking hands fumbled to pull off his shirt. Growling with impatience, Shiro yanked the cloth over his head and began to work on Keith’s belt and pants. Tears crowded Keith’s eyes as he tried to help, apologies falling from his lips the whole while. 

“What do you want me to do?” Keith asked as he pulled off his boots. He sat on his bed, completely naked, and finally dared a glance up. His eyes widened at the sight of Shiro’s red erection and he looked away.

“Oh, _ now _you won’t look at me,” Shiro said, shaking his head. “Hands and knees.”

Keith sobbed again as he obeyed. “Shiro, please. I’m sorry. D-don’t do this.”

Shiro ignored him and thrust a finger in his hole. “Huh. You’re tight after all,” he said, pulling back and wiping his hand on his shirt. 

“Please don’t,” Keith said, hands bunched in the sheets. His entire body was shaking. “Shiro, ple--aghhh!”

Keith all but screamed as Shiro tried to force himself in. Hissing with annoyance, Shiro pulled back and shoved Keith’s legs further apart. He grabbed the halves of Keith’s ass and held them apart as he lined up, and then he rammed in again, this time to the hilt.

“Shiro! Shiro, stop!” Keith begged. “Shiro, you’re hurting me! Stop!”

Shiro said nothing, only grunting as he fought to keep Keith in position and kept thrusting. 

“It hurt, it hurts,” Keith cried, tears soaking the sheets as he struggled to stay on his knees. “Shiro, please! I’m sorry! Stop, stop!”

Red dripped down Keith’s leg, but still Shiro kept going, staying hard and deep even as Keith’s pleas grew fewer and more broken. 

“Please,” Keith sobbed. “Please, it hurts.”

But Shiro didn’t stop.

~*~*~

  


He shouldn’t be watching this, Shiro thought hysterically, nausea barely kept at bay. _ None _of them should, but especially not him--Keith wouldn’t want him to see this. He had no clue what was happening or why, but the bare minimum Keith deserved during his agony was a shred of privacy. 

“Does everyone need to be here?” Shiro snapped. 

There were a handful of Blades now gathered at the screen, watching impassively as his best friend begged him for mercy. Kolivan glanced briefly away from the carnage to address him.

“You are welcome to leave,” he said.

What the hell should do? He wanted to defend Keith from the Blades’ judgment if nothing else. What would it say to them if Shiro left? That he didn’t trust Keith? That their bond was that weak? 

(But what the hell was going on? Keith knew--Keith _ had _to know--that Shiro would never hurt him, let alone rape him, so why was there a horrific and brutal scene playing out on the screen?) 

Shiro gritted his teeth, and stayed.

  


~*~*~

  


“Good work today, team,” Shiro said, face beaming as he wiped sweat from his forehead. The paladins were filing out of the training deck, accepting his praise and critique. Keith was the last to leave.

“Are you not done yet?” Shiro asked. 

Keith shook his head as he adjusted the tape on his hands. “Just gonna go a few more rounds. Don’t wait up for me,” he said, turning around to select from the array of weapons available.

Shiro smiled and gave Keith a friendly pat on the back. A flash of something like pain flickered across Keith’s face but was gone before Shiro had a chance to see it.

“Rest is a part of training, too. Don’t stay up too late, Keith,” Shiro said gently. He smiled again, eyes full of soft pride, and left.

Keith stood stiff and alone for a moment as the door quietly shut, and then he whirled and punched the nearest wall so hard crimson blossomed through the white tape over his knuckles. His shoulders shook.

“Fuck,” he whispered.

  


~*~*~

  


Shiro was baffled. He tried to sort through what the suit was supposed to show. Greatest fears, they’d said. Fears...and hopes. Which had the first two been? Maybe Keith wanted Shiro to punish him for sexual thoughts? That could make sense for the first two, but this one was more like Keith hated being touched by Shiro and god--Shiro touched Keith all the time. His blood froze. It felt so natural to reach out and give Keith a reassuring pat on the arm or give his shoulder a small squeeze. If these dreams meant what Shiro feared they did, then Keith loathed those gestures. But, Keith also returned them. What the hell did these scenes mean? 

Shiro felt eyes on him and he snapped his head to meet Kolivan’s gaze. 

“What?” he demanded.

“You appear confused,” the Galra said. “Do you not know your friend?”

Shiro ignored the question. “You said this test was for knowledge. Keith doesn’t have anything to learn from this. It’s just hurting him.”

“When the suit manifests his fears it is so he may face them,” Kolivan said simply. “There is always something to be learned from fear.”

An image of his own fears--the terrors of the arena--flashed through his mind. _ Bullshit_, Shiro thought bitterly. Sometimes people were simply afraid of things that hurt them.

(Which again begged the question: why would Keith be afraid of Shiro? He pushed it aside before he could confront it.)

“You said knowledge or death,” Shiro said tightly. “Can he die from this?” 

“Not directly. He can starve to death if he doesn’t leave it.” 

“He can’t leave this?” Shiro said in shock. At least in the first test he could always give up. Did Keith even know he was dreaming, or was this real for him? The thought rolled fresh nausea through Shiro’s gut. What if Keith knew he was dreaming but couldn’t stop it? What if he was trapped? Before Shiro could ask further questions, the next scene began.

  


~*~*~

  


Keith’s face was rent in agony. Tears poured down his cheeks and every thrust made him sob. He was barely able to prop himself up against Shiro’s onslaught. 

“Have you had enough?” Shiro growled. “Do you want me to stop?”

Keith bit his lip so hard it started to bleed, and he shook his head. “Don’t...don’t stop,” he gasped. “I can take it.” 

“Even this? You whore. You want anything. You’re so fucking desperate you don’t care what I do to you.” Shiro’s Galra hand turned a glowing purple and grabbed Keith’s side. Keith wailed and when Shiro pulled his hand away, a burn print remained, blistering and red. “You’ll take anything I give you and you’ll like it,” Shiro laughed cruelly. “Do you like this?” 

“No!” Keith cried. 

Shiro laughed again. “Do you want me to stop?” 

“No!” Keith cried again, his body going limp from the force of Shiro’s brutal thrusts.

Shiro yanked his head back by his hair and hissed in his ear. “You’re so damn weak. You fucking whore.” He hit Keith’s head with a loud crack and pulled out. 

“No, don’t, ” Keith sobbed weakly. “Don’t leave me. Shiro, don’t leave me.”

Shiro left without looking back. Keith curled in on himself and cried Shiro’s name until the screen went black.

  


~*~*~

  


“Stop the test. Stop it right now.” Enough was enough. Keith didn’t deserve this pain, and Shiro wasn't going to leave him.

“It was his choice to take the test. It is his choice if he wishes to end it. You don’t get to make that decision for him,” Kolivan said. For the first time his voice held something other than a vaguely curious indifference. 

“I don’t care,” Shiro growled. Even if it made him the bad guy to take away Keith’s choice in this, he couldn’t stand to watch him in pain a second longer. He plunged his glowing arm into the controls in front of him and the screen flickered and then cracked. Good. Even if Keith’s mind wasn't free yet, whatever horrors he saw weren’t for the Galra to witness. 

Shiro raced down the hall, punching out the first guard who tried to stop him and flinging the second over his shoulder. He made it to Keith’s room in less than a minute. The normally active boy lay crumbled on his side, unmoving, his face drenched in pain.

“Keith!” he cried, dashing to his side. “Keith, it’s okay, it’s not real. You gotta wake up.”

Keith’s eyelids fluttered but he did not stir.

“Fuck,” Shiro muttered under his breath. Was Keith even able to wake up without whatever “knowledge” the Blades thought he should gain? Well, the suit was creating the mindscape, wasn't it? 

Shiro fumbled with the suit’s collar and found the fastener. He tugged it and Keith gasped, sitting up immediately. He caught Shiro’s eyes and flinched away.

_ He thinks you’re going to rape him_, Shiro realized in horror, _ and you just started to undress him_.

“Keith,” Shiro said carefully, trying to emanate calm, “you’re okay. You’re awake now. It wasn't real. None of it was real.”

Keith blinked twice and then sagged into Shiro with a heavy sigh. 

(So it was still okay to touch him. Thank god.)

“You...you saw it...?” Keith asked faintly.

Shiro swallowed. “Yeah, I saw it.” He swallowed again. “I’m sorry.”

Keith shook his head but said nothing.

“I’m going to get you out of here, okay? Can you stand?” 

Keith nodded but accepted Shiro’s help, leaning into him for support. His shoulder injury seemed to be hampering him as he cradled that arm.

“We will be escorting you off the premise,” Kolivan said stiffly. Shiro had been too focused on Keith to notice him approaching. He was flanked on either side by a half dozen Galra. Shiro snarled.

“Not without his sword,” he hissed.

“He did not earn it,” the Galra said, voice heavy and firm. 

“Yes I did,” Keith said, straightening up. His eyes glimmered with fierce determination. “I did earn it. I won that last challenge.”

Shiro glanced at Keith, confused. Maybe something had happened in the final dream…?

Kolivan opened his mouth to protest but Keith’s knife--hanging off his belt--began to glow. Wordlessly, he handed it over to the young paladin. The blade transformed into a full sword. 

Shiro tightened his grip around Keith’s side and glared at the lead Galra, daring him to challenge them. Kolivan merely nodded in response.

“He has completed the challenge. You may leave with the sword.” 

Damn fucking right they could.

  


~*~*~ 

  


Red was crouching directly outside the Blade’s compound, growling menacingly when they emerged. Shiro had never felt more fond of the cat than in that moment. He wondered how much longer she would have waited before wrecking the building in search of her suffering paladin, and suspected it would not have been long. Red opened her mouth and Shiro helped Keith hobble inside.

“Let me get the first aid kit,” Shiro said, helping Keith ease himself onto the small pilot’s cot all the lions had. “How is your shoulder?”

“Not great,” Keith grimaced, trying to tug down the edge of his suit. 

Shiro set the kit on the cot. “Is it alright if I help you with that?” he asked.

Keith frowned, and Shiro knew why. He would never have asked permission in that way before. Keith opened his mouth to speak and then shut it, nodding instead.

Shiro carefully peeled back the suit, exposing Keith’s shoulder. The gash there was red angry, but more bruise than anything else. Shiro sighed in relief. He didn’t have a lot of supplies to deal with a bigger wound.

“Looks like it’s mostly blunt force trauma,” he said. 

“I think I cracked my clavicle,” Keith said, snorting derisively like it was his fault. 

Shiro bit his lip and dabbed at the wound. He knew the sanitizing cream had numbing properties, but that wouldn’t help with the bone. He worked in silence, dying to ask Keith what the dreams had meant but wanting to give him space. Finally, Keith spoke.

“Thank you for waking me up,” he said. “Part of me knew it wasn't real, but it was like I _ had _to live it, and… I didn’t know how to stop it.”

Shiro sucked in his breath, uncertain what to say. “I would never hurt you, Keith.”

“I know,” Keith said. “That part felt fake.”

“Then what part felt real?” Shiro asked, afraid of the answer. 

“That you would be disgusted by me.”

Shiro’s heart dropped. “Keith, why the hell would I be disgusted by you?”

“Because I’m in love with you,” Keith said miserably. His eyes were suspiciously bright and had wetness gathering in the corners.

“Keith…,” Shiro said, pain pulling at his chest, “Keith, what did I do to give you the idea that would make me hate you?”

“I don’t know. I just can’t lose you,” Keith said. Tears were falling freely and his voice was beginning to crack. “I’ve lost everyone, Shiro. I can’t lose you, not again, and I’m afraid the way I feel about you will fuck this up. I know you’re not going to give up on me, not so long as I don’t give up, but Shiro--I’ve tried. I’ve _ tried _ but I _ can’t _ stop wanting more of you and I _ know _it’s selfish and I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

So that was it. Keith was afraid he loved Shiro too much and was so desperate not to lose him again that he would take any form of punishment, even from Shiro himself. 

“Loving someone and wanting to be loved in return doesn’t make you selfish, Keith,” Shiro said softly. “It’s the most natural thing in the world.” 

Keith had lost so much in his life--his parents, his home, his sense of belonging--and had been given so little. No wonder he didn’t understand what to do with a desire to keep something good. Plus, he was probably touch-starved and didn’t know how to handle physical affection, either, no matter what form it came in.

Keith hid his face in hands as he continued to cry. “I watched you and Adam.”

Shiro’s face flushed with embarrassment. He’d wondered about that part--they had fooled around in the hangers more than once. “It was our fault for not being discreet,” he said.

Keith shook his head. “I didn’t look away. I-I stayed and I _ watched _you,” he cried. 

“That still doesn’t disgust me at all,” Shiro promised. He tapped Keith’s good shoulder and, when Keith looked up, he offered his arms. Keith bit his lip and then accepted the hug, resting his face in the crook of Shiro’s neck. 

Shiro let Keith cry himself out, rubbing his back, and occasionally whispering encouragement, promising him everything was okay and that there was nothing to forgive.

“Did we at least give you a good show?” he asked when Keith finally pulled back. He got a very flat look for his efforts. 

“You’re ridiculous,” Keith told him. 

(Fair.)

“Can I ask you something?” Shiro said.

Keith nodded.

“How did you defeat the challenge? Did something happen in the last dream?”

“No. It was more of the same. I won because you woke me up,” Keith explained. “When you came to help me, even though you saw all those dreams, I realized I wasn't going to lose you. I didn’t need to find a piece of my past in order to have a family and a future.” 

Shiro teared up at that. How had Keith not known how important he was to him? Keith was Shiro’s family, too.

“When I was in the arena, I almost gave up. I felt abandoned by the universe. I’d already lost my family and I’m slowly losing my body to my disease, and I lost Adam when I went after my dream of piloting the Kerberos mission. I thought I didn’t have anything left to lose. But then I remembered you,” Shiro said. Keith’s eyes filled with confusion and wonder. “I realized that no matter how long it took me to escape, you’d still be there, wanting to see me again. I realized I still had something to fight for because I still had you. You saved me, Keith.”

Keith’s answering expression was so full of awe and adoration that Shiro found himself blushing. How had he ever mistaken Keith’s feelings for a simple, fleeting crush, long gone by the time he’d escaped the arena? His heart flopped an awkward half-beat. He would be a fool to let a love like this go without serious consideration.

(Not the time.)

He cleared his throat. “You should get some rest. It’s a few varga before we can try to leave, and I’m going to need your help getting out of here--providing Red lets me fly.”

For the first time in what felt like years, Shiro saw Keith smile. “I bet she will if I ask her. You think you can manage it?”

“I don’t know if you know this, but I was considered a record-breaking pilot, back in my day,” Shiro said. He paused. “I’m not 100% confident, but you can’t fly with your shoulder like that, so…”

“I trust you,” Keith said, smiling softly. 

Shiro smiled back and gave his knee a gentle squeeze. “Get some rest,” he repeated. 

Keith lay down and Shiro slipped up to the cockpit to see if he could communicate with the Castleship yet. His mind was spinning with the day’s revelations, not the least of which was that he might be harboring more feelings toward Keith than he’d thought. Fuck. If he were back at the Garrison, he’d never even _ consider _what those feelings might be, but out here? Well, they were in the middle of an intergalactic war, and if there was one thing Shiro knew for certain, it was that happiness was a precious, fragile thing. He’d always known that his disease would cut his life short, but now he faced the daily reality of death, and Keith did, too. Who was he to deny them the comfort they could find in one another?

Red prowled at the edge of his mind, probably wondering what he was thinking about in regards to her paladin.

“I’m not going to do anything yet,” he promised the cat softly. “Once he’s healed and we’ve both had time to think, I’ll talk to him.”

Red seemed satisfied, and he had the distinct impression she’d almost purred. Well. If a magical mecha space cat approved, there wasn't much anyone could say against it. 

“Soon,” he promised Red and himself. “Soon.”

  


~*~*~

  


_ “It hurts, stop, Shiro it hurts. Please, Shiro--” _

Shiro woke up in a cold sweat, blankets wrapped in a stranglehold around his neck. He growled and yanked them away, furious both that he’d had the dream and that he hadn’t seen it coming. The Blades had hailed Red before they left and made peace offers and a week later had joined them on the Castleship for negotiations with Allura. Keith had been calm and professional the whole time, but Shiro read him well enough to know he was wildly uncomfortable, and so of course Shiro had ended up with a nightmare. He checked his clock. Still a good four varga before it was time to get up. He sighed.

Kicking off his sheets, Shiro got up. Even on the off chance he could fall back asleep, he didn’t want to--not at the risk of reentering that nauseating dream. He ran his hand over his face and decided against showering. He was more than likely going to work off his energy on the training deck and he could shower afterwards. Yeah. Sounded like a plan.

Shiro switched out his pajamas for his workout clothes and headed to the training deck and, of course, the door whirred open to reveal Keith, eyes narrowed in fierce concentration as he took on a punching bag. He glanced up as Shiro came and smiled, tired but welcoming. 

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, steadying the punching bag with his palm.

Shiro shook his head. “Thought I shouldn’t go back to sleep,” he said wryly. 

Keith grimaced and nodded. There was something in the set of his shoulders and the faint redness in his eyes that let Shiro know he’d been crying. 

“You did great yesterday,” Shiro said, referencing their meeting with the Galra. “I was--am--really proud of how you handled that.” 

Keith bit his lip and blinked several times. “Thanks,” he said hoarsely, fiddling with the edge of tape wrapped around his knuckles. 

_ Red blossoming through white, Keith striking a wall in this very room. _

Shiro took in an unsteady breath and saw the understanding cross Keith’s face as he made the connection, instantly abandoning the tape. 

“Shiro. I’m okay,” Keith promised. “I had a shitty dream, but I’m okay.”

Without consciously deciding to, Shiro stepped forward and pulled Keith into his arms. “We don’t have to work with them if it hurts you. We’ll figure it out.”

Keith returned the hug, rested his head on Shiro’s chest. “I’m okay, Shiro. Really.” He pulled back and searched Shiro’s face. “Are _ you _okay?”

If it had been anyone else asking, Shiro would have said yes.

“It was in your voice,” he whispered. “I heard you beg me in your voice and I couldn’t stop.”

Keith offered no consolation or platitudes, just understanding in his eyes and comfort in his arms. He pulled Shiro back to him this time it was Shiro who cried. 

“I’m sorry that you had to see that,” Keith said softly. “It was my baggage, not yours, and you saved me, remember? You woke me up.”

“Do you want to date me?” Shiro blurted out.

“What?” Keith asked, going stiff. He stepped back. “That’s, uh, not really up to me,” he laughed awkwardly. 

(Wow that was some shitty timing. And phrasing. And everything.)

“It is, though. Up to you, I mean.”

(Still shitty.)

Keith’s face showed confusion and something close to hurt and yup, Shiro was fucking this up royally--not that he’d ever been good at relationships, but this was definitely his record low attempt at asking someone out.

“I care about you a lot, Keith. I know what you feel for me is more than what I feel for you, but people rarely start relationships in the same place, and I’d like to. Start one, that is. I’d like to try a relationship with you. I think I could make you happy, and I’d really like to try. I, um, can’t think of a better way to spend my time than trying to make you happy, actually,” Shiro all but mumbled, rubbing at the back of his neck and blushing hard. “You’re my best friend. You understand me like no one else ever has, and you’re the most important person in my life. So yeah. Do you want to date me?” 

Shiro cringed hard. Lance had more game than him. _ Lance_.

Keith stared at him, shocked. “You’re serious,” he said, baffled. “You don’t think I’m too young for you?”

“I think fighting in an intergalactic war has made our age difference less relevant than it would have been on Earth, but, um, that is something I take seriously. I know I have a lot more experience than you, too, and I want you to know I’ll take this slow and I think you should set the pace, and--”

“Hey, hey,” Keith said, gently interrupting him. “It’s fine with me, Shiro, I just never thought you’d be okay with it. Shit. Are you serious? You really want to date me?”

Shiro cupped his hand around Keith’s cheek. “Yeah, Keith. I really do.” 

Keith blushed hard. “Okay. Um, fuck. Yeah. I want to, too. I want to date you, Shiro.” 

Shiro couldn’t help the happy laugh that bubbled up. “Can I kiss you?” he asked. “Is that too fast?”

Keith blushed harder. “No. I-I’m mean, it’s not too fast. Y-you can kiss me. Yes, you can kiss me.”

Heart beating faster, Shiro cupped his other hand behind Keith’s neck and guided him into a gentle kiss. It was a soft press of lips that he repeated, taking Keith’s bottom lip and tugging it lightly before tilting their heads for two more slow kisses--enough to prove he meant it, but hopefully not enough to overwhelm him. Keith’s eyes fluttered open slowly when Shiro pulled back and he seemed a little dazed. It was a good look on him, Shiro decided. He deserved to be kissed like that. 

“You look pleased with yourself,” Keith noted, fully embarrassed. 

Shiro grinned and brushed aside Keith’s bangs to kiss his forehead. “I am. I just got to kiss a really pretty guy.” 

Keith made an embarrassed noise and ducked his head down to hide against Shiro’s chest. Still got some game after all, Shiro noted smugly.

“So,” Shiro said, sliding his hands down to tangle with Keith’s. “Boyfriends?”

“Boyfriends,” Keith agreed shyly. 

And that was how their nightmare ended.

  


**Author's Note:**

> Detailed trigger warnings: Shiro forces Keith to perform a blowjob and in two separate nightmares rapes him violently. Keith bleeds during all three attacks. All three rapes are simulations during the Blade trials but are experienced as “real” by Keith. 
> 
> It was super interesting thinking about the possibilities for a darker Blades trial. I won’t say I enjoyed writing the rape scenes, but I did enjoy the challenge. I always write from a character’s POV for fanfic stuff but for those scenes, I wanted them really cold and impersonal, so it was just pure narration. Also, that fit for Shiro being an unwilling audience. 
> 
> Y’all ever think about how fucked up the second phase of the trial was? Keith agreed to the original fight, not to the nightmare/dream portion. The Blades had no way of knowing what Keith would experience and we don’t know if Keith could stop it.
> 
> They end up sleeping in each other’s beds right away because of how much it helps their nightmares (they both have them about the time when Shiro was gone). Keith is *super* happy but also hella shy about dating. Shiro lets him set the pace and helps him build up his confidence, and by the time they get physical (wink wink) Shiro is very much in love. It didn’t take him long, lol. <333 I think that’s canon Shiro. He doesn’t notice himself falling for Keith until he’s pretty far gone.
> 
> ALSO FUCK S8 SHEITH IS HELLA CANON SO THERE.
> 
> For no good reason, imma say that Shiro doesn’t die in this one. To be honest, there wasn't a compelling reason (in my mind) for him to have died in the first place, so he’s fine here and there are no clones and no sad Kuron subplots that don’t get tied up. ;^; Just lots of happy snuggles and hella tons of good sex. 
> 
> And they beat up the bad guys and lived happily ever after, the end. <3
> 
> Follow me on Twitter for fic news and useless tweets! @decidedlysarah


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